Third party files in an on-demand database service

ABSTRACT

Disclosed are methods, apparatus, systems, and computer readable storage media for providing a reference to a content object in a user interface using an on-demand database service. A computing device can receive data regarding identification of a content object, where the content object is stored in a data repository external to the on-demand database service. The data regarding the content object can be stored in a persistent object in a database of the on-demand database service. A reference can be provided representing the persistent object to a display device operable to display the reference in a user interface when the display device accesses the on-demand database service. One or more graphical representations can be exposed regarding the content object for display in the user interface by the display device, where the exposed graphical representations depend at least in part on the data repository.

PRIORITY DATA

This patent document is a continuation of and claims priority toco-pending and commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/617,963, titled “Third Party Files In An On-Demand Database Service,”by Goldbrenner et al., filed on Jun. 8, 2017 (Attorney Docket No.SLFCP133C1/1094USC1), which is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 14/082,913, titled “Third Party Files In An On-Demand DatabaseService,” by Goldbrenner et al., filed on Nov. 18, 2013 (Attorney DocketNo. SLFCP133/1094US), which claims priority to U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 61/738,273, titled “Third Party Chatter Files,” by DavidGoldbrenner, filed on Dec. 17, 2012 (Attorney Docket No. 1094PROV). Eachof U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/617,963, U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 14/082,913 and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.61/738,273 is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety and forall purposes.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material,which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This patent document relates generally to providing a reference to acontent object in a user interface using an on-demand database serviceand, more specifically, to techniques for providing a reference to acontent object stored in a data repository external to an on-demanddatabase service.

BACKGROUND

“Cloud computing” services provide shared resources, software, andinformation to computers and other devices upon request. In cloudcomputing environments, software can be accessible over the Internetrather than installed locally on in-house computer systems. Cloudcomputing typically involves over-the-Internet provision of dynamicallyscalable and often virtualized resources. Technological details can beabstracted from the users, who no longer have need for expertise in, orcontrol over, the technology infrastructure “in the cloud” that supportsthem.

Various content files and folders can be accessed in a cloud computingcontext. However, many of the content files and folders are storedacross multiple data repositories. As such, it can be difficult toconnect, access, and search for desired data across the multiple datarepositories. It can also be difficult for users to share such contentand collaborate with each other regarding the content in a cloudcomputing context, such as an online social network. Such difficultiescan be exacerbated where the tools and techniques for providing accessand referencing such content are limited.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The included drawings are for illustrative purposes and serve only toprovide examples of possible structures and operations for the disclosedinventive systems, apparatus, and methods for providing a reference to acontent object in a user interface using an on-demand database service.These drawings in no way limit any changes in form and detail that maybe made by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit andscope of the disclosed implementations.

FIG. 1A shows a block diagram of an example of an environment 10 inwhich an on-demand database service can be used in accordance with someimplementations.

FIG. 1B shows a block diagram of an example of some implementations ofelements of FIG. 1A and various possible interconnections between theseelements.

FIG. 2A shows a system diagram illustrating an example of architecturalcomponents of an on-demand database service environment 200 according tosome implementations.

FIG. 2B shows a system diagram further illustrating an example ofarchitectural components of an on-demand database service environmentaccording to some implementations.

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of an example of a computer implemented methodfor providing a reference to a content object in a user interface usingan on-demand database service, performed in accordance with someimplementations.

FIG. 4 shows an example of an application programming interface (API)for creating a persistent object corresponding to the content object.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a user interface including a plurality ofreferences representing persistent objects for content stored in aplurality of external data repositories.

FIG. 6A shows an example of a user interface for accessing an externalcontent management data repository with a plug-in for publishing to anon-demand database service.

FIG. 6B shows an example of the user interface of FIG. 6A updated toinclude a published feed item having a reference corresponding to acontent object stored in the external content management datarepository.

FIG. 7 shows an example of another user interface with the publishedfeed item in FIG. 6B having the reference corresponding to the contentobject stored in the external content management data repository.

FIG. 8 shows an example of a user interface displaying a content fileslist including the reference corresponding to the content object storedin the external content management data repository of FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 shows an example of a user interface including a detailedinformation page displaying data regarding a persistent object fromFIGS. 7 and 8.

FIG. 10 shows an example of a user interface for identifying an externalcontent management data source to access.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Examples of systems, apparatus, methods and computer-readable storagemedia according to the disclosed implementations are described in thissection. These examples are being provided solely to add context and aidin the understanding of the disclosed implementations. It will thus beapparent to one skilled in the art that implementations may be practicedwithout some or all of these specific details. In other instances,certain process/method operations also referred to herein as “blocks,”have not been described in detail in order to avoid unnecessarilyobscuring implementations. Other applications are possible, such thatthe following examples should not be taken as definitive or limitingeither in scope or setting.

In the following detailed description, references are made to theaccompanying drawings, which form a part of the description and in whichare shown, by way of illustration, specific implementations. Althoughthese implementations are described in sufficient detail to enable oneskilled in the art to practice the disclosed implementations, it isunderstood that these examples are not limiting, such that otherimplementations may be used and changes may be made without departingfrom their spirit and scope. For example, the blocks of methods shownand described herein are not necessarily performed in the orderindicated. It should also be understood that the methods may includemore or fewer blocks than are indicated. In some implementations, blocksdescribed herein as separate blocks may be combined. Conversely, whatmay be described herein as a single block may be implemented in multipleblocks.

Various implementations described or referenced herein are directed todifferent methods, apparatus, systems, and computer-readable storagemedia for providing a reference to a content object in a user interfaceusing an on-demand database service. The on-demand database service caninclude online business applications and online social networks, alsoreferred to herein as a social networking system.

Online social networks are increasingly becoming a common way tofacilitate communication among people, any of whom can be recognized asusers of a social networking system. One example of an online socialnetwork is Chatter®, provided by salesforce.com, inc. of San Francisco,Calif. salesforce.com, inc. is a provider of social networking services,customer relationship management (CRM) services and other databasemanagement services, any of which can be accessed and used inconjunction with the techniques disclosed herein in someimplementations. These various services can be provided in a cloudcomputing environment, for example, in the context of a multi-tenantdatabase system. Thus, the disclosed techniques can be implementedwithout having to install software locally, that is, on computingdevices of users interacting with services available through the cloud.While the disclosed implementations are often described with referenceto Chatter®, those skilled in the art should understand that thedisclosed techniques are neither limited to Chatter® nor to any otherservices and systems provided by salesforce.com, inc. and can beimplemented in the context of various other database systems and/orsocial networking systems such as Facebook®, LinkedIn®, Twitter®,Google+®, Yammer® and Jive® by way of example only.

Some online social networks can be implemented in various settings,including organizations. For instance, an online social network can beimplemented to connect users within an enterprise such as a company orbusiness partnership, or a group of users within such an organization.For instance, Chatter® can be used by employee users in a division of abusiness organization to share data, communicate, and collaborate witheach other for various social purposes often involving the business ofthe organization. In the example of a multi-tenant database system, eachorganization or group within the organization can be a respective tenantof the system, as described in greater detail below.

In some online social networks, users can access one or more socialnetwork feeds, which include information updates presented as items orentries in the feed. Such a feed item can include a single informationupdate or a collection of individual information updates. A feed itemcan include various types of data including character-based data, audiodata, image data and/or video data. A social network feed can bedisplayed in a graphical user interface (GUI) on a display device suchas the display of a computing device as described below. The informationupdates can include various social network data from various sources andcan be stored in an on-demand database service environment. In someimplementations, the disclosed methods, apparatus, systems, andcomputer-readable storage media may be configured or designed for use ina multi-tenant database environment.

In some implementations, an online social network may allow a user tofollow data objects in the form of records such as cases, accounts, oropportunities, in addition to following individual users and groups ofusers. The “following” of a record stored in a database, as described ingreater detail below, allows a user to track the progress of thatrecord. Updates to the record, also referred to herein as changes to therecord, are one type of information update that can occur and be notedon a social network feed such as a record feed or a news feed of a usersubscribed to the record. Examples of record updates include fieldchanges in the record, updates to the status of a record, as well as thecreation of the record itself. Some records are publicly accessible,such that any user can follow the record, while other records areprivate, for which appropriate security clearance/permissions are aprerequisite to a user following the record.

Information updates can include various types of updates, which may ormay not be linked with a particular record. For example, informationupdates can be user-submitted messages or can otherwise be generated inresponse to user actions or in response to events. Examples of messagesinclude: posts, comments, indications of a user's personal preferencessuch as “likes” and “dislikes”, updates to a user's status, uploadedfiles, and user-submitted hyperlinks to social network data or othernetwork data such as various documents and/or web pages on the Internet.Posts can include alpha-numeric or other character-based user inputssuch as words, phrases, statements, questions, emotional expressions,and/or symbols. Comments generally refer to responses to posts or toother information updates, such as words, phrases, statements, answers,questions, and reactionary emotional expressions and/or symbols.Multimedia data can be included in, linked with, or attached to a postor comment. For example, a post can include textual statements incombination with a JPEG image or animated image. A like or dislike canbe submitted in response to a particular post or comment. Examples ofuploaded files include presentations, documents, multimedia files, andthe like.

Users can follow a record by subscribing to the record, as mentionedabove. Users can also follow other entities such as other types of dataobjects, other users, and groups of users. Feed tracked updatesregarding such entities are one type of information update that can bereceived and included in the user's news feed. Any number of users canfollow a particular entity and thus view information updates pertainingto that entity on the users' respective news feeds. In some socialnetworks, users may follow each other by establishing connections witheach other, sometimes referred to as “friending” one another. Byestablishing such a connection, one user may be able to see informationgenerated by, generated about, or otherwise associated with anotheruser. For instance, a first user may be able to see information postedby a second user to the second user's personal social network page. Oneimplementation of such a personal social network page is a user'sprofile page, for example, in the form of a web page representing theuser's profile. In one example, when the first user is following thesecond user, the first user's news feed can receive a post from thesecond user submitted to the second user's profile feed. A user'sprofile feed is also referred to herein as the user's “wall,” which isone example of a social network feed displayed on the user's profilepage.

In some implementations, a social network feed may be specific to agroup of users of an online social network. For instance, a group ofusers may publish a news feed. Members of the group may view and post tothis group feed in accordance with a permissions configuration for thefeed and the group. Information updates in a group context can alsoinclude changes to group status information.

In some implementations, when data such as posts or comments input fromone or more users are submitted to a social network feed for aparticular user, group, object, or other construct within an onlinesocial network, an email notification or other type of networkcommunication may be transmitted to all users following the user, group,or object in addition to the inclusion of the data as a feed item in oneor more feeds, such as a user's profile feed, a news feed, or a recordfeed. In some online social networks, the occurrence of such anotification is limited to the first instance of a published input,which may form part of a larger conversation. For instance, anotification may be transmitted for an initial post, but not forcomments on the post. In some other implementations, a separatenotification is transmitted for each such information update.

Some implementations of the disclosed systems, apparatus, methods, andcomputer readable storage media are configured to provide a reference toa content object in a user interface using an on-demand databaseservice. A computing device such as a server may receive data regardingidentification of a content object, where the content object is storedin a data repository external to the on-demand database service. Dataregarding identification of the content object may be stored in apersistent object in a database of the on-demand database service. Areference representing the persistent object may be provided to adisplay device operable to display the reference in a user interfacewhen the display device accesses the on-demand database service. One ormore graphical representations regarding the content object may beexposed for display in the user interface by the display device, wherethe exposed graphical representations depend at least in part on thedata repository. In some implementations, the data regardingidentification of the content object can include a Uniform ResourceLocator (URL) or a unique content object identifier.

As more and more users and organizations move toward more collaborativesharing models to communicate and conduct business, there is a desire tobetter access, expose, and utilize content. Content may be fragmentedacross a number of data sources outside of an on-demand databaseservice. For example, the on-demand database service may be operated byor on behalf of a first service provider, such as an organization orother type of entity, while the “outside” data sources are operated byor on behalf of a different second service provider. Conventionally,access to such content and sharing such content may be limited in anonline social network or online business application, since differentservice providers generally have different and separately maintainedsecurity models restricting access to their respective services.

Some of the implementations described herein are directed to providing areference to external content stored in an external data repository,where “external” refers to repositories maintained by other entitiesthan the service provider providing a given on-demand database service.The reference can represent a persistent object that behaves like arecord stored in the on-demand database service. The persistent objectcan be indexed, searched, commented upon, recommended to other users,liked, shared, accessed, propagated, edited, updated, deleted, andotherwise interacted with in the on-demand database service. Apersistent object can correspond to an external content object and allowan entity to access the external content object via a URL or uniquecontent object identifier. In some instances, the persistent objectincludes some attributes of the external content object as well as otherattributes described in greater detail below, and, in some instances,the persistent object is not synchronized with the external contentobject. The persistent object can be provided using the on-demanddatabase service and enables access to the external content object viathe URL or unique content object identifier, but allows indexing,searching, commenting, recommending, liking, sharing, accessing,integrating, collaborating, propagating, editing, updating, deleting,and other actions to take place in relation to the persistent objectusing the on-demand database service as if the external content objectwere hosted by the on-demand database service.

These and other implementations may be embodied in various types ofhardware, software, firmware, and combinations thereof. For example,some techniques disclosed herein may be implemented, at least in part,by computer-readable media that include program instructions, stateinformation, etc., for performing various services and operationsdescribed herein. Examples of program instructions include both machinecode, such as produced by a compiler, and files containing higher-levelcode that may be executed by a computing device such as a server orother data processing apparatus using an interpreter. Examples ofcomputer-readable media include, but are not limited to, magnetic mediasuch as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tape; optical media suchas CD-ROM disks; magneto-optical media; and hardware devices that arespecially configured to store program instructions, such as read-onlymemory (“ROM”) devices and random access memory (“RAM”) devices. Theseand other features of the disclosed implementations will be described inmore detail below with reference to the associated drawings.

The term “multi-tenant database system” can refer to those systems inwhich various elements of hardware and software of a database system maybe shared by one or more customers. For example, a given applicationserver may simultaneously process requests for a great number ofcustomers, and a given database table may store rows of data such asfeed items for a potentially much greater number of customers. The term“query plan” generally refers to one or more operations used to accessinformation in a database system.

A “user profile” or “user's profile” is generally configured to storeand maintain data about a given user of the database system. The datacan include general information, such as name, title, phone number, aphoto, a biographical summary, and a status, e.g., text describing whatthe user is currently doing. As mentioned below, the data can includemessages created by other users. Where there are multiple tenants, auser is typically associated with a particular tenant. For example, auser could be a salesperson of a company, which is a tenant of thedatabase system that provides a database service.

The term “record” generally refers to a data entity, such as an instanceof a data object created by a user of the database service, for example,about a particular (actual or potential) business relationship orproject. The data object can have a data structure defined by thedatabase service (a standard object) or defined by a user (customobject). For example, a record can be for a business partner orpotential business partner (e.g., a client, vendor, distributor, etc.)of the user, and can include information describing an entire company,subsidiaries, or contacts at the company. As another example, a recordcan be a project that the user is working on, such as an opportunity(e.g., a possible sale) with an existing partner, or a project that theuser is trying to get. In one implementation of a multi-tenant databasesystem, each record for the tenants has a unique identifier stored in acommon table. A record has data fields that are defined by the structureof the object (e.g., fields of certain data types and purposes). Arecord can also have custom fields defined by a user. A field can beanother record or include links thereto, thereby providing aparent-child relationship between the records.

The terms “social network feed” and “feed” are used interchangeablyherein and generally refer to a combination (e.g., a list) of feed itemsor entries with various types of information and data. Such feed itemscan be stored and maintained in one or more database tables, e.g., asrows in the table(s), that can be accessed to retrieve relevantinformation to be presented as part of a displayed feed. The term “feeditem” (or feed element) refers to an item of information, which can bepresented in the feed such as a post submitted by a user. Feed items ofinformation about a user can be presented in a user's profile feed ofthe database, while feed items of information about a record can bepresented in a record feed in the database, by way of example. A profilefeed and a record feed are examples of different social network feeds. Asecond user following a first user and a record can receive the feeditems associated with the first user and the record for display in thesecond user's news feed, which is another type of social network feed.In some implementations, the feed items from any number of followedusers and records can be combined into a single social network feed of aparticular user.

As examples, a feed item can be a message, such as a user-generated postof text data, and a feed tracked update to a record or profile, such asa change to a field of the record. Feed tracked updates are described ingreater detail below. A feed can be a combination of messages and feedtracked updates. Messages include text created by a user, and mayinclude other data as well. Examples of messages include posts, userstatus updates, and comments. Messages can be created for a user'sprofile or for a record. Posts can be created by various users,potentially any user, although some restrictions can be applied. As anexample, posts can be made to a wall section of a user's profile page(which can include a number of recent posts) or a section of a recordthat includes multiple posts. The posts can be organized inchronological order when displayed in a graphical user interface (GUI),for instance, on the user's profile page, as part of the user's profilefeed. In contrast to a post, a user status update changes a status of auser and can be made by that user or an administrator. A record can alsohave a status, the update of which can be provided by an owner of therecord or other users having suitable write access permissions to therecord. The owner can be a single user, multiple users, or a group. Inone implementation, there is only one status for a record.

In some implementations, a comment can be made on any feed item. In someimplementations, comments are organized as a list explicitly tied to aparticular feed tracked update, post, or status update. In someimplementations, comments may not be listed in the first layer (in ahierarchal sense) of feed items, but listed as a second layer branchingfrom a particular first layer feed item.

A “feed tracked update,” also referred to herein as a “feed update,” isone type of information update and generally refers to data representingan event. A feed tracked update can include text generated by thedatabase system in response to the event, to be provided as one or morefeed items for possible inclusion in one or more feeds. In oneimplementation, the data can initially be stored, and then the databasesystem can later use the data to create text for describing the event.Both the data and/or the text can be a feed tracked update, as usedherein. In various implementations, an event can be an update of arecord and/or can be triggered by a specific action by a user. Whichactions trigger an event can be configurable. Which events have feedtracked updates created and which feed updates are sent to which userscan also be configurable. Messages and feed updates can be stored as afield or child object of the record. For example, the feed can be storedas a child object of the record.

A “group” is generally a collection of users. In some implementations,the group may be defined as users with a same or similar attribute, orby membership. In some implementations, a “group feed”, also referred toherein as a “group news feed”, includes one or more feed items about anyuser in the group. In some implementations, the group feed also includesinformation updates and other feed items that are about the group as awhole, the group's purpose, the group's description, and group recordsand other objects stored in association with the group. Threads ofinformation updates including group record updates and messages, such asposts, comments, likes, etc., can define group conversations and changeover time.

An “entity feed” or “record feed” generally refers to a feed of feeditems about a particular record in the database, such as feed trackedupdates about changes to the record and posts made by users about therecord. An entity feed can be composed of any type of feed item. Such afeed can be displayed on a page such as a web page associated with therecord, e.g., a home page of the record. As used herein, a “profilefeed” or “user's profile feed” is a feed of feed items about aparticular user. In one example, the feed items for a profile feedinclude posts and comments that other users make about or send to theparticular user, and status updates made by the particular user. Such aprofile feed can be displayed on a page associated with the particularuser. In another example, feed items in a profile feed could includeposts made by the particular user and feed tracked updates initiatedbased on actions of the particular user.

I. General Overview

Systems, apparatus, and methods are provided for implementing enterpriselevel social and business information networking. Such implementationscan provide more efficient use of a database system. For instance, auser of a database system may not easily know when important informationin the database has changed, e.g., about a project or client.Implementations can provide feed tracked updates about such changes andother events, thereby keeping users informed.

By way of example, a user can update a record, e.g., an opportunity suchas a possible sale of 1000 computers. Once the record update has beenmade, a feed tracked update about the record update can thenautomatically be provided, e.g., in a feed, to anyone subscribing to theopportunity or to the user. Thus, the user does not need to contact amanager regarding the change in the opportunity, since the feed trackedupdate about the update is sent via a feed right to the manager's feedpage or other page.

Next, mechanisms and methods for providing systems implementingenterprise level social and business information networking will bedescribed with reference to several implementations. First, an overviewof an example of a database system is described, and then examples oftracking events for a record, actions of a user, and messages about auser or record are described. Various implementations about the datastructure of feeds, customizing feeds, user selection of records andusers to follow, generating feeds, and displaying feeds are alsodescribed.

II. System Overview

FIG. 1A shows a block diagram of an example of an environment 10 inwhich an on-demand database service can be used in accordance with someimplementations. Environment 10 may include user systems 12, network 14,database system 16, processor system 17, application platform 18,network interface 20, tenant data storage 22, system data storage 24,program code 26, and process space 28. In other implementations,environment 10 may not have all of these components and/or may haveother components instead of, or in addition to, those listed above.

Environment 10 is an environment in which an on-demand database serviceexists. User system 12 may be implemented as any computing device(s) orother data processing apparatus such as a machine or system that is usedby a user to access a database system 16. For example, any of usersystems 12 can be a handheld computing device, a mobile phone, a laptopcomputer, a work station, and/or a network of such computing devices. Asillustrated in FIG. 1A (and in more detail in FIG. 1B) user systems 12might interact via a network 14 with an on-demand database service,which is implemented in the example of FIG. 1A as database system 16.

An on-demand database service, implemented using system 16 by way ofexample, is a service that is made available to outside users, who donot need to necessarily be concerned with building and/or maintainingthe database system. Instead, the database system may be available fortheir use when the users need the database system, i.e., on the demandof the users. Some on-demand database services may store informationfrom one or more tenants into tables of a common database image to forma multi-tenant database system (MTS). A database image may include oneor more database objects. A relational database management system(RDBMS) or the equivalent may execute storage and retrieval ofinformation against the database object(s). Application platform 18 maybe a framework that allows the applications of system 16 to run, such asthe hardware and/or software, e.g., the operating system. In someimplementations, application platform 18 enables creation, managing andexecuting one or more applications developed by the provider of theon-demand database service, users accessing the on-demand databaseservice via user systems 12, or third party application developersaccessing the on-demand database service via user systems 12.

The users of user systems 12 may differ in their respective capacities,and the capacity of a particular user system 12 might be entirelydetermined by permissions (permission levels) for the current user. Forexample, where a salesperson is using a particular user system 12 tointeract with system 16, that user system has the capacities allotted tothat salesperson. However, while an administrator is using that usersystem to interact with system 16, that user system has the capacitiesallotted to that administrator. In systems with a hierarchical rolemodel, users at one permission level may have access to applications,data, and database information accessible by a lower permission leveluser, but may not have access to certain applications, databaseinformation, and data accessible by a user at a higher permission level.Thus, different users will have different capabilities with regard toaccessing and modifying application and database information, dependingon a user's security or permission level, also called authorization.

Network 14 is any network or combination of networks of devices thatcommunicate with one another. For example, network 14 can be any one orany combination of a LAN (local area network), WAN (wide area network),telephone network, wireless network, point-to-point network, starnetwork, token ring network, hub network, or other appropriateconfiguration. Network 14 can include a TCP/IP (Transfer ControlProtocol and Internet Protocol) network, such as the global internetworkof networks often referred to as the “Internet” with a capital “I.” TheInternet will be used in many of the examples herein. However, it shouldbe understood that the networks that the present implementations mightuse are not so limited, although TCP/IP is a frequently implementedprotocol.

User systems 12 might communicate with system 16 using TCP/IP and, at ahigher network level, use other common Internet protocols tocommunicate, such as HTTP, FTP, AFS, WAP, etc. In an example where HTTPis used, user system 12 might include an HTTP client commonly referredto as a “browser” for sending and receiving HTTP signals to and from anHTTP server at system 16. Such an HTTP server might be implemented asthe sole network interface 20 between system 16 and network 14, butother techniques might be used as well or instead. In someimplementations, the network interface 20 between system 16 and network14 includes load sharing functionality, such as round-robin HTTP requestdistributors to balance loads and distribute incoming HTTP requestsevenly over a plurality of servers. At least for users accessing system16, each of the plurality of servers has access to the MTS' data;however, other alternative configurations may be used instead.

In one implementation, system 16, shown in FIG. 1A, implements aweb-based customer relationship management (CRM) system. For example, inone implementation, system 16 includes application servers configured toimplement and execute CRM software applications as well as providerelated data, code, forms, web pages and other information to and fromuser systems 12 and to store to, and retrieve from, a database systemrelated data, objects, and Webpage content. With a multi-tenant system,data for multiple tenants may be stored in the same physical databaseobject in tenant data storage 22, however, tenant data typically isarranged in the storage medium(s) of tenant data storage 22 so that dataof one tenant is kept logically separate from that of other tenants sothat one tenant does not have access to another tenant's data, unlesssuch data is expressly shared. In certain implementations, system 16implements applications other than, or in addition to, a CRMapplication. For example, system 16 may provide tenant access tomultiple hosted (standard and custom) applications, including a CRMapplication. User (or third party developer) applications, which may ormay not include CRM, may be supported by the application platform 18,which manages creation, storage of the applications into one or moredatabase objects and executing of the applications in a virtual machinein the process space of the system 16.

One arrangement for elements of system 16 is shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B,including a network interface 20, application platform 18, tenant datastorage 22 for tenant data 23, system data storage 24 for system data 25accessible to system 16 and possibly multiple tenants, program code 26for implementing various functions of system 16, and a process space 28for executing MTS system processes and tenant-specific processes, suchas running applications as part of an application hosting service.Additional processes that may execute on system 16 include databaseindexing processes.

Several elements in the system shown in FIG. 1A include conventional,well-known elements that are explained only briefly here. For example,each user system 12 could include a desktop personal computer,workstation, laptop, PDA, cell phone, or any wireless access protocol(WAP) enabled device or any other computing device capable ofinterfacing directly or indirectly to the Internet or other networkconnection. The term “computing device” is also referred to hereinsimply as a “computer”. User system 12 typically runs an HTTP client,e.g., a browsing program, such as Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser,Netscape's Navigator browser, Opera's browser, or a WAP-enabled browserin the case of a cell phone, PDA or other wireless device, or the like,allowing a user (e.g., subscriber of the multi-tenant database system)of user system 12 to access, process and view information, pages andapplications available to it from system 16 over network 14. Each usersystem 12 also typically includes one or more user input devices, suchas a keyboard, a mouse, trackball, touch pad, touch screen, pen or thelike, for interacting with a graphical user interface (GUI) provided bythe browser on a display (e.g., a monitor screen, LCD display, etc.) ofthe computing device in conjunction with pages, forms, applications andother information provided by system 16 or other systems or servers. Forexample, the user interface device can be used to access data andapplications hosted by system 16, and to perform searches on storeddata, and otherwise allow a user to interact with various GUI pages thatmay be presented to a user. As discussed above, implementations aresuitable for use with the Internet, although other networks can be usedinstead of or in addition to the Internet, such as an intranet, anextranet, a virtual private network (VPN), a non-TCP/IP based network,any LAN or WAN or the like.

According to one implementation, each user system 12 and all of itscomponents are operator configurable using applications, such as abrowser, including computer code run using a central processing unitsuch as an Intel Pentium® processor or the like. Similarly, system 16(and additional instances of an MTS, where more than one is present) andall of its components might be operator configurable usingapplication(s) including computer code to run using processor system 17,which may be implemented to include a central processing unit, which mayinclude an Intel Pentium® processor or the like, and/or multipleprocessor units. Non-transitory computer-readable media can haveinstructions stored thereon/in, that can be executed by or used toprogram a computing device to perform any of the methods of theimplementations described herein. Computer program code 26 implementinginstructions for operating and configuring system 16 to intercommunicateand to process web pages, applications and other data and media contentas described herein is preferably downloadable and stored on a harddisk, but the entire program code, or portions thereof, may also bestored in any other volatile or non-volatile memory medium or device asis well known, such as a ROM or RAM, or provided on any media capable ofstoring program code, such as any type of rotating media includingfloppy disks, optical discs, digital versatile disk (DVD), compact disk(CD), microdrive, and magneto-optical disks, and magnetic or opticalcards, nanosystems (including molecular memory ICs), or any other typeof computer-readable medium or device suitable for storing instructionsand/or data. Additionally, the entire program code, or portions thereof,may be transmitted and downloaded from a software source over atransmission medium, e.g., over the Internet, or from another server, asis well known, or transmitted over any other conventional networkconnection as is well known (e.g., extranet, VPN, LAN, etc.) using anycommunication medium and protocols (e.g., TCP/IP, HTTP, HTTPS, Ethernet,etc.) as are well known. It will also be appreciated that computer codefor the disclosed implementations can be realized in any programminglanguage that can be executed on a client system and/or server or serversystem such as, for example, C, C++, HTML, any other markup language,Java™, JavaScript, ActiveX, any other scripting language, such asVBScript, and many other programming languages as are well known may beused. (Java™ is a trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc.).

According to some implementations, each system 16 is configured toprovide web pages, forms, applications, data and media content to user(client) systems 12 to support the access by user systems 12 as tenantsof system 16. As such, system 16 provides security mechanisms to keepeach tenant's data separate unless the data is shared. If more than oneMTS is used, they may be located in close proximity to one another(e.g., in a server farm located in a single building or campus), or theymay be distributed at locations remote from one another (e.g., one ormore servers located in city A and one or more servers located in cityB). As used herein, each MTS could include one or more logically and/orphysically connected servers distributed locally or across one or moregeographic locations. Additionally, the term “server” is meant to referto a computing device or system, including processing hardware andprocess space(s), an associated storage medium such as a memory deviceor database, and, in some instances, a database application (e.g.,OODBMS or RDBMS) as is well known in the art. It should also beunderstood that “server system” and “server” are often usedinterchangeably herein. Similarly, the database objects described hereincan be implemented as single databases, a distributed database, acollection of distributed databases, a database with redundant online oroffline backups or other redundancies, etc., and might include adistributed database or storage network and associated processingintelligence.

FIG. 1B shows a block diagram of an example of some implementations ofelements of FIG. 1A and various possible interconnections between theseelements. That is, FIG. 1B also illustrates environment 10. However, inFIG. 1B elements of system 16 and various interconnections in someimplementations are further illustrated. FIG. 1B shows that user system12 may include processor system 12A, memory system 12B, input system12C, and output system 12D. FIG. 1B shows network 14 and system 16. FIG.1B also shows that system 16 may include tenant data storage 22, tenantdata 23, system data storage 24, system data 25, User Interface (UI) 30,Application Program Interface (API) 32, PL/SOQL 34, save routines 36,application setup mechanism 38, applications servers 1001-100N, systemprocess space 102, tenant process spaces 104, tenant management processspace 110, tenant storage space 112, user storage 114, and applicationmetadata 116. In other implementations, environment 10 may not have thesame elements as those listed above and/or may have other elementsinstead of, or in addition to, those listed above.

User system 12, network 14, system 16, tenant data storage 22, andsystem data storage 24 were discussed above in FIG. 1A. Regarding usersystem 12, processor system 12A may be any combination of one or moreprocessors. Memory system 12B may be any combination of one or morememory devices, short term, and/or long term memory. Input system 12Cmay be any combination of input devices, such as one or more keyboards,mice, trackballs, scanners, cameras, and/or interfaces to networks.Output system 12D may be any combination of output devices, such as oneor more monitors, printers, and/or interfaces to networks. As shown byFIG. 1B, system 16 may include a network interface 20 (of FIG. 1A)implemented as a set of HTTP application servers 100, an applicationplatform 18, tenant data storage 22, and system data storage 24. Alsoshown is system process space 102, including individual tenant processspaces 104 and a tenant management process space 110. Each applicationserver 100 may be configured to communicate with tenant data storage 22and the tenant data 23 therein, and system data storage 24 and thesystem data 25 therein to serve requests of user systems 12. The tenantdata 23 might be divided into individual tenant storage spaces 112,which can be either a physical arrangement and/or a logical arrangementof data. Within each tenant storage space 112, user storage 114 andapplication metadata 116 might be similarly allocated for each user. Forexample, a copy of a user's most recently used (MRU) items might bestored to user storage 114. Similarly, a copy of MRU items for an entireorganization that is a tenant might be stored to tenant storage space112. A UI 30 provides a user interface and an API 32 provides anapplication programmer interface to system 16 resident processes tousers and/or developers at user systems 12. The tenant data and thesystem data may be stored in various databases, such as one or moreOracle□ databases.

Application platform 18 includes an application setup mechanism 38 thatsupports application developers' creation and management ofapplications, which may be saved as metadata into tenant data storage 22by save routines 36 for execution by subscribers as one or more tenantprocess spaces 104 managed by tenant management process 110 for example.Invocations to such applications may be coded using PL/SOQL 34 thatprovides a programming language style interface extension to API 32. Adetailed description of some PL/SOQL language implementations isdiscussed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 7,730,478, titled METHODAND SYSTEM FOR ALLOWING ACCESS TO DEVELOPED APPLICATIONS VIA AMULTI-TENANT ON-DEMAND DATABASE SERVICE, by Craig Weissman, issued onJun. 1, 2010, and hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety andfor all purposes. Invocations to applications may be detected by one ormore system processes, which manage retrieving application metadata 116for the subscriber making the invocation and executing the metadata asan application in a virtual machine.

Each application server 100 may be communicably coupled to databasesystems, e.g., having access to system data 25 and tenant data 23, via adifferent network connection. For example, one application server 1001might be coupled via the network 14 (e.g., the Internet), anotherapplication server 100N-1 might be coupled via a direct network link,and another application server 100N might be coupled by yet a differentnetwork connection. Transfer Control Protocol and Internet Protocol(TCP/IP) are typical protocols for communicating between applicationservers 100 and the database system. However, it will be apparent to oneskilled in the art that other transport protocols may be used tooptimize the system depending on the network interconnect used.

In certain implementations, each application server 100 is configured tohandle requests for any user associated with any organization that is atenant. Because it is desirable to be able to add and remove applicationservers from the server pool at any time for any reason, there ispreferably no server affinity for a user and/or organization to aspecific application server 100. In one implementation, therefore, aninterface system implementing a load balancing function (e.g., an F5Big-IP load balancer) is communicably coupled between the applicationservers 100 and the user systems 12 to distribute requests to theapplication servers 100. In one implementation, the load balancer uses aleast connections algorithm to route user requests to the applicationservers 100. Other examples of load balancing algorithms, such as roundrobin and observed response time, also can be used. For example, incertain implementations, three consecutive requests from the same usercould hit three different application servers 100, and three requestsfrom different users could hit the same application server 100. In thismanner, by way of example, system 16 is multi-tenant, wherein system 16handles storage of, and access to, different objects, data andapplications across disparate users and organizations.

As an example of storage, one tenant might be a company that employs asales force where each salesperson uses system 16 to manage their salesprocess. Thus, a user might maintain contact data, leads data, customerfollow-up data, performance data, goals and progress data, etc., allapplicable to that user's personal sales process (e.g., in tenant datastorage 22). In an example of a MTS arrangement, since all of the dataand the applications to access, view, modify, report, transmit,calculate, etc., can be maintained and accessed by a user system havingnothing more than network access, the user can manage his or her salesefforts and cycles from any of many different user systems. For example,if a salesperson is visiting a customer and the customer has Internetaccess in their lobby, the salesperson can obtain critical updates as tothat customer while waiting for the customer to arrive in the lobby.

While each user's data might be separate from other users' dataregardless of the employers of each user, some data might beorganization-wide data shared or accessible by a plurality of users orall of the users for a given organization that is a tenant. Thus, theremight be some data structures managed by system 16 that are allocated atthe tenant level while other data structures might be managed at theuser level. Because an MTS might support multiple tenants includingpossible competitors, the MTS should have security protocols that keepdata, applications, and application use separate. Also, because manytenants may opt for access to an MTS rather than maintain their ownsystem, redundancy, up-time, and backup are additional functions thatmay be implemented in the MTS. In addition to user-specific data andtenant-specific data, system 16 might also maintain system level datausable by multiple tenants or other data. Such system level data mightinclude industry reports, news, postings, and the like that are sharableamong tenants.

In certain implementations, user systems 12 (which may be clientsystems) communicate with application servers 100 to request and updatesystem-level and tenant-level data from system 16 that may involvesending one or more queries to tenant data storage 22 and/or system datastorage 24. System 16 (e.g., an application server 100 in system 16)automatically generates one or more SQL statements (e.g., one or moreSQL queries) that are designed to access the desired information. Systemdata storage 24 may generate query plans to access the requested datafrom the database.

Each database can generally be viewed as a collection of objects, suchas a set of logical tables, containing data fitted into predefinedcategories. A “table” is one representation of a data object, and may beused herein to simplify the conceptual description of objects and customobjects according to some implementations. It should be understood that“table” and “object” may be used interchangeably herein. Each tablegenerally contains one or more data categories logically arranged ascolumns or fields in a viewable schema. Each row or record of a tablecontains an instance of data for each category defined by the fields.For example, a CRM database may include a table that describes acustomer with fields for basic contact information such as name,address, phone number, fax number, etc. Another table might describe apurchase order, including fields for information such as customer,product, sale price, date, etc. In some multi-tenant database systems,standard entity tables might be provided for use by all tenants. For CRMdatabase applications, such standard entities might include tables forcase, account, contact, lead, and opportunity data objects, eachcontaining pre-defined fields. It should be understood that the word“entity” may also be used interchangeably herein with “object” and“table”.

In some multi-tenant database systems, tenants may be allowed to createand store custom objects, or they may be allowed to customize standardentities or objects, for example by creating custom fields for standardobjects, including custom index fields. Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No.7,779,039, titled CUSTOM ENTITIES AND FIELDS IN A MULTI-TENANT DATABASESYSTEM, by Weissman et al., issued on Aug. 17, 2010, and herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety and for all purposes, teachessystems and methods for creating custom objects as well as customizingstandard objects in a multi-tenant database system. In certainimplementations, for example, all custom entity data rows are stored ina single multi-tenant physical table, which may contain multiple logicaltables per organization. It is transparent to customers that theirmultiple “tables” are in fact stored in one large table or that theirdata may be stored in the same table as the data of other customers.

FIG. 2A shows a system diagram illustrating an example of architecturalcomponents of an on-demand database service environment 200 according tosome implementations. A client machine located in the cloud 204,generally referring to one or more networks in combination, as describedherein, may communicate with the on-demand database service environmentvia one or more edge routers 208 and 212. A client machine can be any ofthe examples of user systems 12 described above. The edge routers maycommunicate with one or more core switches 220 and 224 via firewall 216.The core switches may communicate with a load balancer 228, which maydistribute server load over different pods, such as the pods 240 and244. The pods 240 and 244, which may each include one or more serversand/or other computing resources, may perform data processing and otheroperations used to provide on-demand services. Communication with thepods may be conducted via pod switches 232 and 236. Components of theon-demand database service environment may communicate with a databasestorage 256 via a database firewall 248 and a database switch 252.

As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, accessing an on-demand database serviceenvironment may involve communications transmitted among a variety ofdifferent hardware and/or software components. Further, the on-demanddatabase service environment 200 is a simplified representation of anactual on-demand database service environment. For example, while onlyone or two devices of each type are shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, someimplementations of an on-demand database service environment may includeanywhere from one to many devices of each type. Also, the on-demanddatabase service environment need not include each device shown in FIGS.2A and 2B, or may include additional devices not shown in FIGS. 2A and2B.

Moreover, one or more of the devices in the on-demand database serviceenvironment 200 may be implemented on the same physical device or ondifferent hardware. Some devices may be implemented using hardware or acombination of hardware and software. Thus, terms such as “dataprocessing apparatus,” “machine,” “server” and “device” as used hereinare not limited to a single hardware device, but rather include anyhardware and software configured to provide the described functionality.

The cloud 204 is intended to refer to a data network or plurality ofdata networks, often including the Internet. Client machines located inthe cloud 204 may communicate with the on-demand database serviceenvironment to access services provided by the on-demand databaseservice environment. For example, client machines may access theon-demand database service environment to retrieve, store, edit, and/orprocess information.

In some implementations, the edge routers 208 and 212 route packetsbetween the cloud 204 and other components of the on-demand databaseservice environment 200. The edge routers 208 and 212 may employ theBorder Gateway Protocol (BGP). The BGP is the core routing protocol ofthe Internet. The edge routers 208 and 212 may maintain a table of IPnetworks or ‘prefixes’, which designate network reachability amongautonomous systems on the Internet.

In one or more implementations, the firewall 216 may protect the innercomponents of the on-demand database service environment 200 fromInternet traffic. The firewall 216 may block, permit, or deny access tothe inner components of the on-demand database service environment 200based upon a set of rules and other criteria. The firewall 216 may actas one or more of a packet filter, an application gateway, a statefulfilter, a proxy server, or any other type of firewall.

In some implementations, the core switches 220 and 224 are high-capacityswitches that transfer packets within the on-demand database serviceenvironment 200. The core switches 220 and 224 may be configured asnetwork bridges that quickly route data between different componentswithin the on-demand database service environment. In someimplementations, the use of two or more core switches 220 and 224 mayprovide redundancy and/or reduced latency.

In some implementations, the pods 240 and 244 may perform the core dataprocessing and service functions provided by the on-demand databaseservice environment. Each pod may include various types of hardwareand/or software computing resources. An example of the pod architectureis discussed in greater detail with reference to FIG. 2B.

In some implementations, communication between the pods 240 and 244 maybe conducted via the pod switches 232 and 236. The pod switches 232 and236 may facilitate communication between the pods 240 and 244 and clientmachines located in the cloud 204, for example via core switches 220 and224. Also, the pod switches 232 and 236 may facilitate communicationbetween the pods 240 and 244 and the database storage 256.

In some implementations, the load balancer 228 may distribute workloadbetween the pods 240 and 244. Balancing the on-demand service requestsbetween the pods may assist in improving the use of resources,increasing throughput, reducing response times, and/or reducingoverhead. The load balancer 228 may include multilayer switches toanalyze and forward traffic.

In some implementations, access to the database storage 256 may beguarded by a database firewall 248. The database firewall 248 may act asa computer application firewall operating at the database applicationlayer of a protocol stack. The database firewall 248 may protect thedatabase storage 256 from application attacks such as structure querylanguage (SQL) injection, database rootkits, and unauthorizedinformation disclosure.

In some implementations, the database firewall 248 may include a hostusing one or more forms of reverse proxy services to proxy trafficbefore passing it to a gateway router. The database firewall 248 mayinspect the contents of database traffic and block certain content ordatabase requests. The database firewall 248 may work on the SQLapplication level atop the TCP/IP stack, managing applications'connection to the database or SQL management interfaces as well asintercepting and enforcing packets traveling to or from a databasenetwork or application interface.

In some implementations, communication with the database storage 256 maybe conducted via the database switch 252. The multi-tenant databasestorage 256 may include more than one hardware and/or softwarecomponents for handling database queries. Accordingly, the databaseswitch 252 may direct database queries transmitted by other componentsof the on-demand database service environment (e.g., the pods 240 and244) to the correct components within the database storage 256.

In some implementations, the database storage 256 is an on-demanddatabase system shared by many different organizations. The on-demanddatabase system may employ a multi-tenant approach, a virtualizedapproach, or any other type of database approach. An on-demand databasesystem is discussed in greater detail with reference to FIGS. 1A and 1B.

FIG. 2B shows a system diagram further illustrating an example ofarchitectural components of an on-demand database service environmentaccording to some implementations. The pod 244 may be used to renderservices to a user of the on-demand database service environment 200. Insome implementations, each pod may include a variety of servers and/orother systems. The pod 244 includes one or more content batch servers264, content search servers 268, query servers 282, file force servers286, access control system (ACS) servers 280, batch servers 284, and appservers 288. Also, the pod 244 includes database instances 290, quickfile systems (QFS) 292, and indexers 294. In one or moreimplementations, some or all communication between the servers in thepod 244 may be transmitted via the switch 236.

In some implementations, the app servers 288 may include a hardwareand/or software framework dedicated to the execution of procedures(e.g., programs, routines, scripts) for supporting the construction ofapplications provided by the on-demand database service environment 200via the pod 244. In some implementations, the hardware and/or softwareframework of an app server 288 is configured to execute operations ofthe services described herein, including performance of the blocks ofmethods described with reference to FIGS. 15-22. In alternativeimplementations, two or more app servers 288 may be included andcooperate to perform such methods, or one or more other serversdescribed herein can be configured to perform the disclosed methods.

The content batch servers 264 may handle requests internal to the pod.These requests may be long-running and/or not tied to a particularcustomer. For example, the content batch servers 264 may handle requestsrelated to log mining, cleanup work, and maintenance tasks.

The content search servers 268 may provide query and indexer functions.For example, the functions provided by the content search servers 268may allow users to search through content stored in the on-demanddatabase service environment.

The file force servers 286 may manage requests for information stored inthe Fileforce storage 298. The Fileforce storage 298 may storeinformation such as documents, images, and basic large objects (BLOB s).By managing requests for information using the file force servers 286,the image footprint on the database may be reduced.

The query servers 282 may be used to retrieve information from one ormore file systems. For example, the query system 282 may receiverequests for information from the app servers 288 and then transmitinformation queries to the NFS 296 located outside the pod.

The pod 244 may share a database instance 290 configured as amulti-tenant environment in which different organizations share accessto the same database. Additionally, services rendered by the pod 244 maycall upon various hardware and/or software resources. In someimplementations, the ACS servers 280 may control access to data,hardware resources, or software resources.

In some implementations, the batch servers 284 may process batch jobs,which are used to run tasks at specified times. Thus, the batch servers284 may transmit instructions to other servers, such as the app servers288, to trigger the batch jobs.

In some implementations, the QFS 292 may be an open source file systemavailable from Sun Microsystems® of Santa Clara, Calif. The QFS mayserve as a rapid-access file system for storing and accessinginformation available within the pod 244. The QFS 292 may support somevolume management capabilities, allowing many disks to be groupedtogether into a file system. File system metadata can be kept on aseparate set of disks, which may be useful for streaming applicationswhere long disk seeks cannot be tolerated. Thus, the QFS system maycommunicate with one or more content search servers 268 and/or indexers294 to identify, retrieve, move, and/or update data stored in thenetwork file systems 296 and/or other storage systems.

In some implementations, one or more query servers 282 may communicatewith the NFS 296 to retrieve and/or update information stored outside ofthe pod 244.

The NFS 296 may allow servers located in the pod 244 to accessinformation to access files over a network in a manner similar to howlocal storage is accessed.

In some implementations, queries from the query servers 222 may betransmitted to the NFS 296 via the load balancer 228, which maydistribute resource requests over various resources available in theon-demand database service environment. The NFS 296 may also communicatewith the QFS 292 to update the information stored on the NFS 296 and/orto provide information to the QFS 292 for use by servers located withinthe pod 244.

In some implementations, the pod may include one or more databaseinstances 290. The database instance 290 may transmit information to theQFS 292. When information is transmitted to the QFS, it may be availablefor use by servers within the pod 244 without using an additionaldatabase call.

In some implementations, database information may be transmitted to theindexer 294. Indexer 294 may provide an index of information availablein the database 290 and/or QFS 292. The index information may beprovided to file force servers 286 and/or the QFS 292.

III. Providing a Reference to a Content Object

Content can be scattered across many different network domains on theInternet. Such content can be stored in various data repositories ordata sources that are hosted on different network domains from anon-demand database service. Typically, users can access third-partycontent from the on-demand database service via a URL. However, usersmay be limited in their ability to integrate, share, and collaboratewith third-party content using the on-demand database service.

In some of the disclosed implementations, an on-demand database servicecan essentially host third-party content through a persistent object.The persistent object may be displayed as a reference in a userinterface like a hyperlink that enables a user to access third-partycontent via a URL or other unique content object identifier. Thepersistent object behaves as a content object stored in the on-demanddatabase service. The persistent object can include information relatedto identification of the third-party content. Some of the identifyingcharacteristics or capabilities of the third-party content may beexposed in a user interface of a user's computing device accessing theon-demand database service. Accordingly, the persistent object cansimultaneously represent the third-party content and provide a hyperlinkto the third-party content. Thus, even though the on-demand databaseservice does not natively store third-party content in one of itsdatabases, it can still provide representation of the third-partycontent using a persistent object provided in the on-demand databaseservice. As a result, users can index, search, comment, recommend, like,share, access, collaborate, integrate, propagate, edit, update, delete,and otherwise interact with third-party content via the persistentobjects using the on-demand database service.

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of an example of a computer implemented methodfor providing a reference to a content object in a user interface usingan on-demand database service, performed in accordance with someimplementations. The method 300 is described with reference to someexamples illustrated in FIGS. 4-10.

At block 304 of the method 300, data regarding identification of acontent object is received at a computing device, where the contentobject is stored in a data repository external to the on-demand databaseservice. Content objects can include metadata as well as the actualcontent itself. Content objects can include content files and/orfolders. However, it is understood that content objects are not limitedto files and folders, but can include data of any type. Content filescan include any file types, including text, audio, video, image, and/orother file. Content objects may be stored in various data repositoriesand hosted in network domains different than the on-demand databaseservice.

In some implementations, the on-demand database service can includecloud-based services, including online business applications and onlinesocial networks. An online social network, such as Chatter®, facilitatescommunication and collaboration among entities. The online socialnetwork can be managed and controlled by a database service provider,such as salesforce.com. The online social network may also facilitateusage of other online services, including CRM services and databasemanagement services. The on-demand database services can also includeonline business applications, including but not limited to taskmanagement services (e.g., do.com™), CRM services (e.g., Salescloud®),customer services (Service Cloud® and desk.com™), performance managementservices (e.g., Rypple® and work.com), social marketing services (e.g.,Radian6® and Buddy Media™), content and/or data management services(e.g., database.com™, data.com®), platform services (e.g., site.com™,Heroku™, force.com®, AppExchange®).

The data repository is external to the on-demand database service andcan store one or more content objects. In some implementations, the datarepository is “external” in that it is hosted on a network domainseparate from the network domain of the on-demand database service. Asused herein, the data repository can also be referred to as a“third-party repository” and the content object stored in the datarepository can also be referred to as a “third-party file.”

In some implementations, the data repository can include a contentmanagement repository provided by a service provider such as Dropbox,Box.net, Google Drive, SharePoint, FileNet, Documentum, and Skydrive.Nonetheless, the data repository can include any repository for storageof any data type. For example, a piece of formatted text or excerpt froma webpage can be stored in EverNote, a video can be stored in YouTube orVimeo, an image can be stored in Flickr, a business report can beprovided in SAP or Oracle, a search result can be provided in Google,etc. The content in any of these data repositories can be referenced bya URL. A user in the on-demand database service may access the contentof the content object using the URL.

A process call can be made to the content object or third-party filestored in the data repository. The process call can include instructionsfor locating and retrieving the content object so that the contentobject can be delivered to an end user. However, the content object doesnot necessarily leave its data repository. Instructions can include dataregarding identification of the content object. In some implementations,data regarding identification of the content object can include a URL tothe content object or a unique content object identifier (ID) to thecontent object. Data regarding identification of the content object canfurther include a title, a source, an author, and other metadata. Insome implementations, the data regarding identification of the contentobject can be provided by an entity and received at a computing device.

In some implementations, the data regarding identification of thecontent object can be provided by user input via an API. FIG. 4 shows anexample of an API for creating a persistent object corresponding to thecontent object. A process call to the content object can be made via thepersistent object. The persistent object can be created using the dataregarding identification of the content object.

As illustrated in the example in FIG. 4, the API 400 includes a table401 having a plurality of fields 402. Each of the fields 402 canrepresent data fields for identifying a content object stored in a datarepository. A user can provide data regarding identification of thecontent object by manually inputting values into each of the values 403of the table 401. In some implementations, the user can provide valuesby applying a “smart lookup” 404 to select values that can beautomatically generated.

In providing data regarding identification of the content object, acontent location 405 can be identified. In the example in FIG. 4, avalue of “E” is indicated to show that the content location 405 isexternal to the on-demand database service. In addition, an ExternalData Source ID 406 can be identified to determine the source of thecontent object. The value in the External Data Source ID 406 can berepresented by a string of characters indicating a unique ID of theexternal data repository, which can be scraped from a browser URL barwhen viewing the external data repository. Alternatively, the ExternalData Source ID 406 can be specified from another API as shown in FIG.10. Under External Document Info1 407, a string of characters can beindicated to show the URL or remainder of the URL pointing to thecontent object. The External Data Source ID 406 and the ExternalDocument Info1 407 can collectively provide the URL to the contentobject. Furthermore, an origin 408 can be specified by the user toindicate what kind of object the persistent object will be and where thepersistent object will be stored. In FIG. 4, a value of “H” is providedto show that the persistent object will be a Chatter file and stored ina database in Chatter. A Path On Client 409 can be specified to indicatethe original source of content object and the content object'sextension. This data can be used to open the appropriate applicationwhen accessing the content object. For example, the document extensionof *.doc can provide instructions to the computing device to open thecontent object using Microsoft Word or other word processingapplication. A Title 410 can be provided to indicate the title of thecontent object for display in a user interface.

In some implementations, the data regarding identification of thecontent object can be automatically generated. In particular, the valuesfor providing identification of the content object can be automaticallygenerated based on previously known values or default values. Ratherthan manually entering data regarding identification of the contentobject, such data can be machine- or system-generated. For example,identification of the URL of the content object or the ID of the sourcecan automatically generate a value for Content Location 405. In anotherexample, identification of the URL or can automatically generate a valuefor the Title 410 by scraping a portion of the URL.

In some implementations, the data regarding identification of thecontent object may be provided in a manner other than through API 400,such as through computer programming instructions shown below:

-   -   var cv=new sforce.SObject(“ContentVersion”);    -   cv.Origin=‘H’; cv.ContentLocation=‘E’;    -   cv.ExtemalDataSourceId=‘OXCD0000000005z’;    -   cv.ExtemalDocumentInfo1=‘/sites/sfde/sandbox/Shared%20Documents/Marketin        g%2Obrochure.docx’;    -   cv.PathOnClient=‘https://sp.marketing.fisker.com/sites/sfdc/sandbox/SharedDocuments/Fiskermar        ketingguidelines.docx’;    -   cv.Title=‘Fisker Marketing Guidelines”;    -   sforce.connection.create([cv]);

In some implementations, the data regarding identification of thecontent object may be retrieved from the external data repository. Aswill be discussed in more detail below with respect to FIGS. 6A and 6B,a browser plug-in or other client application may enable communicationbetween the external data repository and the on-demand database service.By way of an example, such communication may facilitate publication ofan external content object to a social layer (e.g., information feed) ofthe on-demand database service from the external data repository. Thedata regarding identification of the content object may be automaticallygenerated by pulling data from the external data repository. Such datacan be provided in a persistent object corresponding to the contentobject and stored in a database of the on-demand database service.

In some implementations, identification of the external data repositorycan be independently specified through an API. FIG. 10 shows an exampleof a user interface for identifying an external content management datasource to access. A user interface 1000 can provide an API 1001 fordefining the location of the server on which the external content objectresides. In some implementations, the user can be a system administratorwho can define as many data repositories external to the on-demanddatabase service as desired. The user can provide a Label 1002 for theexternal data repository, which is the name of the external datarepository to be displayed to users in the on-demand database service.The user can provide a Name 1003 for the external data repository, whichcan refer to the internal name of the external data repository. The usercan further identify a Type 1004 for establishing the type of connectionto access the external data repository, which can be through a simpleURL. Furthermore, the user can specify the server URL 1005 in which theexternal data repository resides, and the user can select an icon 1006to represent the external data repository. Additionally, the user canchoose the means of authenticating the user to the external datarepository by selecting the Identity Type 1007 (e.g., per user oranonymous) and Authentication Protocol 1008 (e.g., no authentication orbasic authentication). Authentication can including providing theusername and password credentials to authenticate from the on-demanddatabase service or having the authentication occur at the external datarepository.

In essence, any content or data object with a URL or other unique ID canbe referenced to the computing device. Content in EverNote, documents inDropbox, videos from YouTube, photos from Flickr, search results fromGoogle, reports in SAP or Oracle, and all types of external content canbe referenced to the computing device for identification. The dataprovided regarding identification of the content object can be used forcreating a persistent object in a database of the on-demand databaseservice.

Returning to FIG. 3, at block 308 of the method 300, the data regardingidentification of the content object is stored in a persistent object ina database of the on-demand database service. In some implementations,the persistent object can have a database structure in the form of atable with various data fields logically arranged as columns. Forexample, the persistent object can represent a content folder includinga plurality of content files, where each row can represent a contentfile and the columns can represent metadata. Alternatively, thepersistent object can be represented as a single row in a largerdatabase table. For example, the row can represent a content file andthe columns in the database table can represent metadata, including butnot limited to a title, a description, a source, a unique ID, an author,a created date, a date modified, and a URL. A persistent object in thedatabase table may provide at least some values for the one or more datafields, though some of the data fields may be left blank.

While the persistent object does not store actual content (e.g., blob)of a content object, the persistent object can act and behave like acontent object (e.g., record). The persistent object represents thecorresponding content object by including a pointer (e.g., URL) to theactual content of the content object. However, the persistent object hasa data structure like any other content object that may be native to theon-demand database service. In other words, the persistent objectbehaves and functions like a record in the on-demand database service.The difference is that the persistent object may include different datafields from a record, including data identifying the content object andan indicator that the content object is external. By way of an example,the persistent object in the database can indicate that there's anexternal SharePoint document with a unique ID of 123456789 and locatedon the SharePoint server atwww.office.microsoft.com/sharepoint/123456789.doc. The persistent objectcan maintain a persistent relationship with the database in theon-demand database service, regardless of changes made or interactionsperformed in the external data repository.

At block 312 of the method 300, a reference representing the persistentobject is provided to display the reference in a user interface when thedisplay device accesses the on-demand database service. The referencecan serve as a hyperlink to take an entity directly to the URL of thecontent object. The reference can be a selectable component, includingbut not limited to an icon, a button, or a string of characters.Selection of the reference can initiate an action, such as opening thecontent object via the URL, downloading the content object via the URL,and opening a detailed information page view regarding the persistentobject.

In some implementations, providing the reference includes receiving asignal from the data repository or from the on-demand database serviceto provide the reference. In some implementations, the reference may beprovided following a user-initiated action. The reference may beprovided in a social layer of the on-demand database service, such as agroup, a record, an organization, a content management files list, aninformation feed, or a user profile. This enables the persistent objectto be shared across a plurality of users for collaboration. Users canaccess, share, search, index, comment, recommend, edit, update, delete,and interact with the persistent object as if the persistent object wereany other record in the on-demand database service. In one example, auser can publish the persistent object from SharePoint to a Chatterfeed, as will be discussed in more detail with respect to FIGS. 6A and6B. In another example, a user can publish the persistent object fromChatter and into a Chatter feed.

Interactions with the persistent object can depend on contextualinformation associated with the persistent object. In someimplementations, the persistent object can be recommended to users. Arecommendation to a user can be based on the activity of the user and/orbased on the activity of other users with respect to the persistentobject. In some implementations, the persistent object can be edited,updated, or deleted. The ability to edit, update, or delete can be basedon a user's privileges, which can be determined dynamically. Forinstance, when the persistent object has been linked to or attached toone or more records within the database of the on-demand databaseservice, a user's privilege to interact with the persistent object canbe based on the user's privilege with respect to the one or more recordswithin the database.

In some implementations, providing the reference includes presenting thereference to a display device operable to display the reference in aninformation feed when the display device accesses the on-demand databaseservice. FIG. 7 shows an example of a user interface with a feed itemhaving a reference representing a persistent object in an informationfeed. In FIG. 7, a user interface 700 can be displayed in an onlinesocial network for a group 750. The user interface 700 can include apublisher 705 and an information feed 720, where the publisher 705 maybe configured to publish information to the information feed 720. Theinformation feed 720 can include a plurality of feed items related tothe group 750. A feed item 721 can include a reference 722, which canrepresent a persistent object corresponding to a Microsoft Word documententitled “Olympic Bicycles 2013 Product Line.” The Microsoft Worddocument may be stored in an external data repository, such asSharePoint. A user may initiate an action by clicking a selectablecomponent 723. The action can open the content object via a URL storedin the persistent object upon clicking the selectable component 723.

In some implementations, providing the reference includes presenting thereference to a display device operable to display the reference in acontent management files list when the display device accesses theon-demand database service. FIG. 8 shows an example of a user interfaceof a content management files list presenting a reference representingthe persistent object. In FIG. 8, a user interface 800 can be displayedfor a files tab 850. The files tab 850 can include a content managementfiles list 810 that includes a plurality of files 820. The plurality offiles 820 may be integrated across the on-demand database service for anentity, including native files and external files. Therefore, as shownin the example in FIG. 8, the content management files list 810 caninclude one or more references to persistent objects corresponding toexternal content objects as well as one or more references to filesstored in the database of the on-demand database service. A reference821 can represent a persistent object corresponding to a file stored inan external data repository. The reference 821 may be accompanied withan icon 822 indicating the source of the file, such an icon forSharePoint. Other references in the plurality of files 810 may have anicon 824 indicating that the file is native to the on-demand databaseservice. A user may initiate an action by clicking a selectablecomponent 823, which may be configured to open the file, download thefile, or open a detailed information page view regarding the file.

Returning to FIG. 3, at block 316 of the method 300, one or moregraphical representations regarding the content object are exposed fordisplay in the user interface by the display device, where the exposedgraphical representations depend at least in part on the datarepository. The one or more graphical representations can accompany thereference in the user interface. The one or more graphicalrepresentations can be displayed in the form of GUI buttons, links,tabs, channels, icons, images, animations, menus, string of characters,and the like.

What is exposed in the user interface can depend on the source of thecontent object. If the source of the content object is Dropbox, agraphical representation can indicate such information by showing anicon representing Dropbox. The persistent object as rendered in the userinterface can present both (1) a reference directing a user to a contentobject via a URL or unique content object ID and (2) one or moregraphical representations that are “polymorphic.” What this means isthat the persistent object can identify its source and render differentinformation or representations of information depending on itsidentified source in the user interface.

In some implementations, the one or more graphical representations caninclude metadata, where metadata is rendered depending on the identifiedsource of the content object. Metadata can include but is not limited toat least one of a title, a source, a file size, an author, a createddate, a last modified timestamp, etc. Thus, what metadata is exposedregarding the content object can depend on the identified source of thecontent object.

In some implementations, the one or more graphical representations caninclude one or more selectable components configured to interact withthe content object. Once the source of the content object is identified,the one or more graphical representations can provide differentcapabilities and functions depending on the source of the content objectwithout actually retrieving the content object from the source itself.By way of an example, if a reference to a SharePoint document isprovided in the user interface, a selectable component can accompany thereference to allow a user to “Check In” or “Check Out” the SharePointdocument. In another example, if a reference to an EverNote file isprovided in the user interface, a selectable component can accompany thereference to allow a user to author directly into the EverNote filewithin a preview window. In some implementations, interactions via theselectable components are made to the persistent object and subsequentlywritten to the corresponding content object.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a user interface including a plurality ofreferences representing persistent objects for content stored in aplurality of external data repositories. A user interface 500 candisplay a plurality of files in a single portal regardless of whetherthe files are external to a database or the files are native to thedatabase. Hence, a user can be provided with unified access to all theirfiles located across many different data sources, allowing boththird-party content files and native content files to be accessed usingthe on-demand database service.

In FIG. 5, the user interface 500 can include a plurality of filesorganized under Name 510 and accompanied with Actions 520. Under Name510, each of the files can include a title identifying a name for thefile. Each of the files can include a first icon to the left of its nameidentifying the type of file, such as a Microsoft Word document, aMicrosoft Excel spreadsheet, a JPEG image, etc. In some implementations,the first icon may include a lock symbol to indicate that the file hasrestrictions for access. Each of the files can also include a secondicon to the right of its name identifying the source of the file, suchas EverNote, Dropbox, SharePoint, etc. An EverNote file 501 named “Test”can display an EverNote icon 511, a JPEG image 502 named “Costa RicanFrog” can display a Dropbox icon 512, and a Microsoft Word document file504 named “Sales Strategies 2012” can display a SharePoint icon 514.Each of the icons 511, 512, and 514 can be rendered into the userinterface upon identification of the source of the external file. Therendering of the icons 511, 512, and 514 may be independent of userinput directly generating the icons. Some of the icons 511, 512, and 514may be generated from specifying an external data repository in an API,such as in FIG. 10. Some files may simply reference content stored on awebsite, such as a Tech Crunch article 503 on www.techcrunch.com. Otherfiles may reference content native to the on-demand database service,such as the Microsoft Word document file 505 entitled “How to convertthe Ambler load.” Actions 520 allow a user to initiate actions on thefiles, such as opening the file, downloading the file, or opening adetailed information page view regarding the file.

In some implementations, the method 300 can further include receiving auser input selecting the reference. The user input may be transmitted tothe computing device as a signal to initiate an action with respect tothe content object. The signal can include instructions requestingaccess to the content object in the data repository, where the requestincludes a URL or a unique content object ID. The URL or unique contentobject ID may be taken from the persistent object when the reference isselected. The action can then initiate opening or downloading thecontent object from the data repository to be delivered to the user.

Even when the user requests access to an external content object tointeract with the external content object, the external content objectcontinues to remain in its original source. In some instances, theexternal content object may not get copied and duplicated into thedatabase of the on-demand database service. Furthermore, security andaccess permissions may be controlled by the original source. When a useris taken to the content object for access, authentication can occur atthe source of the content object.

In some implementations, the user input selecting the reference caninitiate an action to open a detailed information page regarding thepersistent object corresponding to the external content object.Different information and capabilities can be displayed in the detailedinformation page depending on the source of the content object. FIG. 9shows an example of a user interface including a detailed informationpage displaying data regarding a persistent object. A user interface 900for a detailed information page includes a title or reference 911 forthe persistent object corresponding to the content object, and a source912 of the content object. The user interface 900 can further includeadditional metadata 913 regarding the persistent object. This caninclude when the persistent object was originally shared, by whom thepersistent object was originally shared, and when the persistent objectwas last modified. In addition, the user interface 900 can includecapabilities 914 for interacting with the external content object viathe persistent object, such as opening the content object from theexternal data repository, deleting the content object, and editing filesharing settings. In some implementations, a preview window 915 maydisplay a preview of the content object. However, previews may typicallybe unavailable for content objects stored in external contentrepositories. The user interface 900 can also include a description 916,which can be added by a user input to the persistent objectcorresponding to the content object. In some implementations, changes todata regarding the persistent object can be written to the correspondingcontent object. Accordingly, a description provided from a SharePointdocument can be updated by a user using the on-demand database service,and the updates can be subsequently saved to SharePoint.

FIGS. 6A-9 show various stages and aspects of providing a reference to apersistent object to social layers of an on-demand database service,where the persistent object represents an external content object. FIGS.6A and 6B show that the reference to the persistent object can beprovided from the external data repository into the social layer. FIGS.7 and 8 show the reference to the persistent object can be propagated inan information feed as well as a content management files list. FIG. 9shows an example of a detailed information page of data regarding thepersistent object upon opening the reference.

FIG. 6A shows an example of a user interface for accessing an externalcontent management data repository with a plug-in for publishing to anon-demand database service. The external content repository can have anAPI for exposing a social media page of the on-demand database service.The API can be a browser plug-in that facilitates communication betweena third-party page and the browser page. Here, a SharePoint site exposesa Chatter page with a Chatter feed.

A user interface 600 includes a Chatter Page 650 having a publisher 605and an information feed 620. The publisher 605 can be configured topublish information to the information feed 620. The information feed620 can include one or more feed items 621 providing updates to theinformation feed 620. A user can choose to attach a file 610 in thepublisher 605 to publish into the information feed 620. The user canchoose from a plurality of files stored in the SharePoint contentmanagement data repository.

FIG. 6B shows an example of a user interface of FIG. 6A updated toinclude a published feed item having a reference corresponding to acontent object stored in the external content management datarepository. After a user selects a file stored in the SharePoint contentmanagement data repository, the user can select Share 611 in thepublisher 605 to provide a reference 622 in a feed item 621 of theinformation feed 620. The feed item 621 can also include a messageaccompanying the reference as well as a timestamp of the posted feeditem 621. Users can also have the option to comment and/or like the feeditem 621.

FIG. 7 shows an example of another user interface with the publishedfeed item in FIG. 6B having the reference corresponding to the contentobject stored in the external content management data repository. A userinterface 700 includes a Group page 750 that mirrors the Chatter page650 in FIGS. 6A and 6B. The Group page 750 includes a publisher 750 andan information feed 720, where the information feed 720 includes a feeditem 721 having a reference 722 corresponding to the filed stored in theSharePoint content management data repository. The reference 722 mayrepresent a persistent object stored in a database of the on-demanddatabase service. While the persistent object behaves as a record in thedatabase of the on-demand database service, the persistent object is notthe external content object or a copy of the external content objectitself. The persistent object is not be synchronized with the externalcontent object. Rather, the persistent object corresponds to theexternal content object and includes a URL or unique content object IDof the external content object. A user can access the external contentobject through the persistent object while having the external contentobject remain in its original data repository. In FIG. 7, the user canclick a selectable component 723 to open or otherwise initiate an actionto interact with the external content object through the persistentobject.

FIG. 8 shows an example of a user interface displaying a content fileslist including the reference corresponding to the content object storedin the external content management data repository of FIG. 7. A userinterface 800 includes a content management files list 810 displaying aplurality of files 820. The plurality of files 820 can include areference 821 corresponding to the file stored in the SharePoint contentmanagement data repository. Like the reference 722 in FIG. 7, thereference 821 represents the persistent object in the database of theon-demand database system. When the reference 722 is provided in asocial layer of the on-demand database service, the reference 722 can beshared and propagated into other social layers of the on-demand databaseservice. In the content management files list 810, the reference 821 isprovided alongside files that are native to the on-demand databaseservice and other references that correspond to other external contentobjects. The files and references can be ones that are owned by theuser, shared with the user, and followed by the user. The files andreferences can be indexed and searchable within the database. Therefore,the persistent object represented by the reference 821 can be indexedand searchable alongside other objects stored in the database. The usercan upload additional files into the content management files list 810by selecting an Upload Files button 811 or by dragging files directlyinto the user interface 800.

FIG. 9 shows an example of a user interface including a detailedinformation page displaying data regarding a persistent object fromFIGS. 7 and 8. A user interface 900 includes a detailed information pageview of a title or reference 911 corresponding to the external contentobject. A user may initiate an action to open the detailed informationpage view of the reference 911 by clicking on the reference 722 in FIG.7 or the reference 821 in FIG. 8. The detailed information page view caninclude metadata 912, 913, and 916 regarding the persistent object,where the metadata can relate to the external content object orretrieved from the external content object. The detailed informationpage view can also include capabilities 914 for interacting with theexternal content object via the persistent object.

The specific details of the specific aspects of implementationsdisclosed herein may be combined in any suitable manner withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the disclosed implementations.However, other implementations may be directed to specificimplementations relating to each individual aspect, or specificcombinations of these individual aspects.

While the disclosed examples are often described herein with referenceto an implementation in which an on-demand database service environmentis implemented in a system having an application server providing afront end for an on-demand database service capable of supportingmultiple tenants, the present implementations are not limited tomulti-tenant databases nor deployment on application servers.Implementations may be practiced using other database architectures,i.e., ORACLE®, DB2® by IBM and the like without departing from the scopeof the implementations claimed.

It should be understood that some of the disclosed implementations canbe embodied in the form of control logic using hardware and/or usingcomputer software in a modular or integrated manner. Other ways and/ormethods are possible using hardware and a combination of hardware andsoftware.

Any of the software components or functions described in thisapplication may be implemented as software code to be executed by aprocessor using any suitable computer language such as, for example,Java, C++ or Perl using, for example, conventional or object-orientedtechniques. The software code may be stored as a series of instructionsor commands on a computer-readable medium for storage and/ortransmission, suitable media include random access memory (RAM), a readonly memory (ROM), a magnetic medium such as a hard-drive or a floppydisk, or an optical medium such as a compact disk (CD) or DVD (digitalversatile disk), flash memory, and the like. The computer-readablemedium may be any combination of such storage or transmission devices.Computer-readable media encoded with the software/program code may bepackaged with a compatible device or provided separately from otherdevices (e.g., via Internet download). Any such computer-readable mediummay reside on or within a single computing device or an entire computersystem, and may be among other computer-readable media within a systemor network. A computer system, or other computing device, may include amonitor, printer, or other suitable display for providing any of theresults mentioned herein to a user.

While various implementations have been described herein, it should beunderstood that they have been presented by way of example only, and notlimitation. Thus, the breadth and scope of the present applicationshould not be limited by any of the implementations described herein,but should be defined only in accordance with the following andlater-submitted claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method for providing areference to a content object in a user interface using an on-demanddatabase service, the method comprising: receiving, at a computingdevice, data regarding identification of a content object, wherein thecontent object is stored in a data repository external to the on-demanddatabase service; storing the data regarding the content object in apersistent object in a database of the on-demand database service;providing a reference representing the persistent object to a displaydevice operable to display the reference in a user interface when thedisplay device accesses the on-demand database service; and exposing oneor more graphical representations regarding the content object fordisplay in the user interface by the display device, wherein the exposedgraphical representations depend at least in part on the datarepository.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the data regardingidentification of the content object includes a Uniform Resource Locator(URL) or unique content object identifier to the content object.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: identifying a source of thecontent object, wherein the exposed graphical representations includeone or more selectable components configured to interact with thecontent object, the one or more selectable components depending at leastin part on the source of the content object.
 4. The method of claim 1,wherein providing the reference includes presenting the reference to adisplay device operable to display the reference in an information feedwhen the display device accesses the on-demand database service.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, wherein providing the reference includes presentingthe reference to a display device operable to display the reference in acontent management files list when the display device accesses theon-demand database service.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein thecontent management files list includes a first reference and a secondreference, the first reference being the reference representing thepersistent object and the second reference representing a file stored inthe database of the on-demand database service.
 7. The method of claim1, wherein the exposed graphical representations include metadata, themetadata including at least one of a title, a source, a file size, anauthor, and a created date.
 8. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: receiving a user input selecting the reference.
 9. Themethod of claim 8, further comprising: requesting access to the contentobject in the data repository in response to the user input, wherein therequest includes a URL or a unique content object identifier to thecontent object; and opening or downloading the content object from thedata repository.
 10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:displaying metadata regarding the content object in a display deviceoperable to display the metadata in a detailed information page inresponse to the user input.
 11. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: receiving a modification regarding the content object fromthe data repository; and updating the persistent object to reflect themodification.
 12. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving amodification of the persistent object; and updating the content objectto reflect the modification.
 13. The method of claim 1, whereinproviding the reference includes receiving a signal from the datarepository or from the on-demand database service to provide thereference.
 14. One or more computing devices for providing a referenceto a content object in a user interface using an on-demand databaseservice, the one or more computing devices comprising: one or moreprocessors configured to execute one or more instructions to: receivedata regarding identification of a content object, wherein the contentobject is stored in a data repository external to the on-demand databaseservice; store the data regarding the content object in a persistentobject in a database of the on-demand database service; provide areference representing the persistent object to a display deviceoperable to display the reference in a user interface when the displaydevice accesses the on-demand database service; and expose one or moregraphical representations regarding the content object for display inthe user interface by the display device, wherein the exposed graphicalrepresentations depend at least in part on the data repository.
 15. Theone or more computing devices of claim 14, wherein the referenceincludes a URL or unique content object identifier to the contentobject.
 16. The one or more computing devices of claim 14, wherein theone or more processors are configured to execute one or moreinstructions to: identify a source of the content object, wherein theexposed graphical representations include one or more selectablecomponents configured to interact with the content object, the one ormore selectable components depending at least in part on the source ofthe content object.
 17. The one or more computing devices of claim 14,wherein the one or more processors configured to provide the referencecomprise instructions to present the reference to a display deviceoperable to display the reference in an information feed or a contentmanagement files list when the display device accesses the on-demanddatabase service.
 18. The one or more computing devices of claim 14,wherein the one or more processors configured to provide the referencecomprises instructions to receive a signal from the data repository orfrom the on-demand database service to provide the reference.
 19. Anon-transitory tangible computer-readable storage medium storinginstructions executable by a computing device to perform a method forproviding a reference to a content object in a user interface using anon-demand database service, the method comprising: receiving, at acomputing device, data regarding identification of a content object,wherein the content object is stored in a data repository external tothe on-demand database service; storing the data regarding the contentobject in a persistent object in a database of the on-demand databaseservice; providing a reference representing the persistent object to adisplay device operable to display the reference in a user interfacewhen the display device accesses the on-demand database service; andexposing one or more graphical representations regarding the contentobject for display in the user interface by the display device, whereinthe exposed graphical representations depend at least in part on thedata repository.
 20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumof claim 19, wherein the reference includes a URL or unique contentobject identifier to the content object.